The present invention relates to a method for making a baking product. Primarily, the method is intended for applications in a continuous manufacturing process. In the present context, the term baking product is used in making foodstuff products having their manufacturing process chiefly dictated by the grain fraction. The process outcome will naturally be affected also by other components of the grain fraction, mutual proportions and qualities, as well as the flour-water ratio used in making the dough.
Conventionally, bakery products are baked using either so-called open-hearth baking or pan-baking. In open-hearth baking, the baked product is made from a dough piece having a sufficient toughness for keeping the piece essentially in its intended shape until passed to the baking step. In contrast, pan-baking can be carried out using dough of essentially higher elasticity or otherwise lower consistency, because this baking technique is not so sensitive to the shape retention of the dough. As known, pan-baking can be carried out using either an open pan or a pan covered with a lid.
When baking in an open-hearth oven or open pan, an essential portion of the product surface is in immediate contact with the atmosphere of the oven. This imposes a significant moisture loss effect on the product during baking. In contrast, the pan is very tightly sealed when the baking takes place in a covered pan, whereby the evaporation of moisture almost completely prevented. Also known in the art are baking methods in which a covered pan is provided with a venting mechanism suitable for controlling the exhaust of evaporated moisture. Such a method is described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,078.
Controlled removal of moisture from the baked product during baking is essential, e.g., in making a baked bread inasmuch it is known that the taste of bread can be improved by baking the bread at a lower temperature combined with a correspondingly longer baking time. Bakery products such as wheat rolls, for example, in turn require that excessive moisture loss from the product is prevented under such baking conditions that are known to give a good baking result within a balanced combination of baking temperature and time.
On the other hand, the crust of a baked product is expected to have some desirable qualities, combined at least for a portion of the crust with a pleasing appearance, such properties being achievable by virtue of conventional baking methods in which the crust of the product is brought to an immediate contact with the baking atmosphere of the baking oven.
A baked product fulfilling these requirements can be attained by means of a method which allows the product to stay during its manufacturing process enclosed in a sealed wrapper, according to the invention so that the dough is dosed into the baking space formed by said sealed wrapper to give the full-volume of the baked end product, subsequently raising and/or baking the dough in said baking space formed by said sealed wrapper, and that a wrapper is used in which the wrapper area overlying the crust-formation area of the baked product intended to simulate the baking result obtainable under open-hearth baking conditions is made from a moisture-transmissive material capable of passing water vapour through its porous structure from the product to the baking oven atmosphere.
Advantageously, the method is implemented using a sealed wrapper made from material whose water vapour transmission through its porous structure at room temperature is about 150-250 g/m2*day. Said material should preferably be elastic with an elongation of about 12-20% under a pressure differential of 30 kPa.
The art of manufacturing a baked product enclosed in sealed wrapper has already been treated in a number of earlier patent publications. For instance, patent publication EP-A1-0240071 describes a baking method in which a prebaked bread is packed in a material capable of retaining the moisture and crispness of the product during the reheating of the prebaked product in a microwave oven. Similarly, in publication WO/91/07861 is described a method in which a prebaked bread is packaged in a sheet of moisture-semipermeable material that is wrapped about the product thus allowing the product to be reheated in a microwave oven without destroying the crisp crust of the product.
In patent publication GB-A-155000 is further described a method comprising heating of the product in a wrapper material at a maximum temperature of 135xc2x0 C. for about 15 min, whereby pores fabricated on the wrapper material can vent the released water vapour out from the wrapper during heating but seal themselves off immediately after heating. The goal of the method is to provide an aseptic package, thus offering a good microbial protection after baking.
All these prior-art methods are characterized in that their object is to extend the microbiological shelf life of the prebaked product. They start from a piece of moulded and raised dough that is prebaked chiefly for the postprocessing needs of a consumer.